Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Her response comes before I can push myself to do it.
Charli: You take this practice stuff a lot more seriously than I expected. Keep it up, and I’m going to start suspecting you’re just looking for excuses to see me.
I’m smiling, partly because I can picture her face as she typed out her message. She was probably smiling, too.
Jameson: Guilty. Should I bring handcuffs?
She starts and stops typing several times. I laugh aloud as I picture how flustered she must be.
Charli: I’ll meet you there. What time? No handcuffs needed. You’re pardoned.
Jameson: Maybe I should still bring the cuffs. I could confess to some of the things I’ve been thinking about. Then you’d definitely want to slap them on me.
I make a lame promise to myself that I’ll come clean if she asks what I need to confess.
Charli: Is this all part of practicing and pretending?
I run my tongue over my lips. Dammit. She just thinks I’m flirting. I can’t bring myself to spoil everything, so I keep going. It’s easy enough. Flirting with her feels like the most natural thing in the world.
Jameson: It works better if you’re not sure. Just enjoy the ride, baby.
Charli: If being clueless makes this work, then we’re really on the right track.
Jameson: That’s the spirit. I’ll pick you up in thirty minutes or so. And just a thought: if we were really dating, you’d probably wear one of those dresses I like. You’d probably even make sure you put on some sexy underwear for me.
Once again, she’s typing and stopping and typing and stopping.
Charli: Granny panties. Got it.
13
CHARLI
I have just enough time to wrap up an act of minor sabotage before I leave my apartment to meet Jameson. My phone is busier than usual because “Operation: Charli’s Revenge” is apparently a group activity. Despite my strong words, I have to admit taking any kind of revenge doesn’t feel entirely natural for me. I’m more or less hoping to fake it until I make it at this point.
Do I think Vaughn deserves all kinds of Hell for what he did? Yes. It’s just that I’d rather keep my hands clean and hope karma catches up with him.
But I’ve promised myself something. I’m not going to be the old Charli. Not this time. I’m going to do whatever little part I can in making sure he regrets what he did to me, because maybe then he’ll think twice about doing it to the next girl. I think it’s the only way I’ll be able to live with everything that happened.
Gemmaline: Did you send him the invite yet?
I quickly let her know that I haven’t as I’m using my butt to push open the doors from the lobby to the street. Multitasking. Not usually my speciality, but I’m doing my best.
Roxie: Looks like he just changed his email password for the business one. I already changed the secret question, though. We should be able to change it back one more time.
Dani: Have you seen what Maddie is doing in photoshop? I’m dying.
She follows her text with a bunch of skull and laugh crying emojis.
It feels good to know how much everybody wants to rally behind me for this. It’s their way of trying to show support and love. But as much as I can see it for what it is, I still feel a gnawing emptiness inside. Revenge or not, he still stole my book. My book. Just thinking about it makes me want to projectile vomit, and I hate knowing the only thing I can do about it right now is sit back and wait for the legal team at Gray Wolfe to find answers.
I must be grimacing when Jameson arrives to meet me in front of my apartment, because he frowns.
“You alright?” he asks.
“I’m fine. Good. Great,” I say finally, when none of my statements seems to relax his concern.
He puts his hand on the small of my back and gives a reassuring rub. No words. It’s just the simple touch and the hint of a smile.
I smile at my feet. A second ago, I was once again sure that I’d never want to smile again. Then a simple look from him has me showing my teeth and feeling all gooey inside.
I like how comfortable he is touching me. I like how he always makes me feel like I’m under his protective wing.
We stand in pleasant silence for a minute or two before a car pulls up.
“Our chariot,” he says, gesturing to the car.
I let him open the door of our ride for me. He comes around the other side and thanks the driver, who is a very large, very round man with thinning hair. “Sure, sure,” the driver says.
“You keep saying you’re a rogue,” I say to Jameson. “But you act more like a gentleman. Opening doors for me. Using your fancy legal team to try to fix my problem. Taking me on sweet fake dates… I have to say I’m beginning to think you lied to me and you’re actually a decent guy.”